Since beginning my studies of the auric energy field I’ve been fascinated by how spiritual healing is applied in different cultures. At its most basic level energy healing is about one auric field touching another, allowing a pranic transmission from the more highly-charged person towards the one with a weaker charge. But the passing of spiritual energy requires a relational connection: chakra to chakra, understanding to understanding, and is far more sophisticated than a simple energy download.
If you are working within your culture-of-origin you already possess much of the social and relational understanding needed to connect with like-minded others. But if you leave your country, or if you need to connect to others from a different land, challenges in connection do occur.
Now that I am old enough to have had experience in several cultures I better understand one important mechanism: each culture possesses a consciousness matrix made up of social, spiritual, and cultural energy. To tap into a culture other than your own you must tap into the energetic consciousness of their unique matrix. Yui Wang first pointed this out to me, as we walked the streets of Tokyo, on my first visit to Japan. I had almost been hit by a cyclist coming up from behind me. I had expected him to be responsible not to hit me. He had expected me to feel him coming, to be aware of the space around us both, and to move out of his way. I didn’t move, and he almost hit me. “You have to feel the Japanese “grid” around you”, said Yui. “The Japanese cyclist expected you to “feel” him coming up from behind, and to “fit in” with him. It’s the consciousness of the village, and not of individual rights.”.
I began to experiment energetically connecting into the social grid in Japan, both personally and professionally. Sure enough, the connections with the culture had a specific experience to relational awareness. But I could also see that you needed to live in the new culture for a while in order to experience it. Both time, an intention to understand others, and experience in talking or working with local people was essential in order for the local social consciousness to gain access to your auric system. This has recently started to happen here in Sabah, Borneo, where I recently moved. A few weeks ago I felt something “click” into my energy field. Suddenly, I was in the flow of local life in a new and more pleasurable way. I was no longer stumbling around like a Western tourist; I was a fish amongst other fish. I felt I had somehow just become a citizen of the town. The local social grid had taken me in.
Of course it takes many years (including language acquisition) to truly understand any new culture. Expect this process to impact, or challenge, some of your long-held relational assumptions, such as what is polite and appropriate, personal boundaries, and what is expected from others. The hunter-gatherer Western societies are tremendously different to the rice-growing Asian consciousness, as many well-traveled authors such as Rudyard Kipling have noted. And in an evolving global economy understanding others as culturally different from you will become increasingly important. For those of us who are also on a spiritual quest, and seeking wisdom from other cultures, understanding their social energy grids will help us gain what we seek. Because if we expect someone from another culture to be like us, true connection will not occur. Personal and business needs will not be supported. Relationships will not deepen. And without strong relationships, we cannot heal and grow, learn and prosper, or enter into mutually beneficial arrangements.